Life of Pi Movie: Tobey Maguire and Suraj Sharma Have Starring Roles

A beautiful film trailer hit the web today, with the release of the preview for Ang Lee's adaptation of the novel Life of Pi.

This adaptation of author Yann Martel's best-selling book has been in the works since the release of the novel in 2001. Footage of the film was first seen in April at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. Even just a few short moments from the film were enough to get the Oscar buzz fully underway. At the time, Anthony Breznican, a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly tweeted: "Ok, so Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" will be getting a best picture Oscar nomination..."

The trailer looks stunning, even when viewed on a computer screen. With hardly any dialogue, aside from the roar of the tiger, the remarkable visuals dominate. I can only imagine what the 3-D in theater version will bring, and how beautiful that phosphorescent whale will look leaping across a huge cinema screen.

Lee, the Academy Award winning director, has already proven he is adept at bringing film adaptations to the screen; his 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, based off of Jane Austen's classic novel, was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

Much of the Life of Pi's visual beauty can be credited to the film's photographer Claudio Miranda, who collaborated with David Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The trailer released today only gives away the film's basics: A shipwrecked boy is stuck on a boat with a tiger. It remains to be seen how Lee deals with the rest of the novel's twists and turns.

The film stars Suraj Sharma as Pi, as well as Irrfan Khan and Tobey Maguire. Life of Pi is out in theaters on Nov. 21.

Elena is the Arts & Entertainment Editor at Mic. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Time Out New York, The New York Times Upfront, ABC News, and various travel publications. She is also a Princeton alum, a former Thailand resident, and a Brooklyn native.